Microsoft's Real Test For "White Spaces" Device: The Telecom Lobby

Microsoft, who's been unsuccessfully trying to convince the FCC
to give it free access to unused wireless spectrum, is at it
again.

MSFT
is trying to prove to regulators that it can create Internet
devices that use spectrum "white spaces" -- chunks of spectrum
between the airspace currently used by TV channels -- without
interfering with broadcast signals. Microsoft had a previous
application rejected in August.

Microsoft and a handful of tech giants like Dell, Google, Intel,
and Philips, hope they can convince the FCC to offer up let them
use the spectrum on an "unlicensed" -- read: free
-- basis. That means instead of having to bid on the
spectrum in an auction, companies would be able to use the
airwaves however they'd like. It'd be comparable to the way that
wi-fi hotspots use unlicensed spectrum on the 2.4 GHz band.

But the companies' biggest obstacle won't be technical. Assuming
it can convince the FCC that it won't interfere with spectrum
owners' broadcast signals, it still has to convince regulators to
give them unlicensed access. Standing directly in the way: Big
Telco and its very effective lobbyists.

We're all for anything that will let companies offer cheaper,
faster Internet access, no matter whose toes get stepped on. But
not only do the wireless companies have clout, they'd have a
point.

Next week, the FCC will auction off 1,099 spectrum licenses on
the 700 MHz band, raising billions of dollars for the government.
The prime "C" block of spectrum has a minimum bid of $4.6
billion. But why bid a penny if the FCC is going to offer up the
adjacent white spaces -- where a rival could offer similar
service -- for free?